The embodiments described herein relate generally to a blank assembly for forming a container from sheet material, and more particularly to methods for forming a shipping container from a blank assembly that is convertible into a dispenser container or a display tray.
Containers fabricated from paperboard and/or corrugated paperboard material are often used to store and transport goods. These containers can include four-sided containers, six-sided containers, eight-sided containers, bulk bins and/or various size corrugated boxes. Such containers are usually formed from blanks of sheet material that are folded along a plurality of preformed fold lines to form an erected corrugated container. In some cases, these containers can be used to ship goods, and then be used to display the goods at a merchant's store or business after the goods have been shipped to the merchant.
The practice of displaying goods for sale within their shipping containers is widespread, especially at outlet stores and supermarkets. This practice allows merchants of the goods to quickly move the goods from a dock or storage area and onto store shelves for display to consumers without arrangement of the stored products to the shelf. Often, a knife is used to cut away a top portion of a shipping container, in order to convert the shipping container into a display tray for the enclosed goods. This practice is often time consuming, may result in damage to the goods through inadvertent contact with the knife during this cutting, as well as dangerous to the individual cutting the box down into a tray. Moreover, this practice often results in a display tray having a ragged, unappealing visual appearance.
Furthermore, different merchants may have different size shelving or space allotment for particular goods. Such convertible containers may not fit within such allotment in their intended orientation, requiring that the products be removed from the container and arranged on the shelf. Moreover, a merchant may want to display a greater portion of the container to the consumer than is conventionally displayed with known convertible shipping containers. Finally, consumers may want a more convenient and efficient method of removing the product from the container than what is known in conventional convertible shipping containers.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a convertible shipping container that provides various configurations and orientations to fit space allotments and shelving sizes for various merchants, displays a greater portion of the container to the consumer, and provides for more convenient removal of the product from the container